Future Literate Me

For this final blog, I have to talk about the future, something no one will ever be able to predict. Sure, I have many hopes, dreams, and goals in life, but probably not all of them will come true because, as time goes by, my goals will change. I might say that I want to be a doctor or a lawyer now, but I'm only sixteen; I have absolutely no idea what I will become.

In my future literacy, I hope that I will be able to read more than just textbooks, or words located on food menus because I am terrible at cooking, so take out will probably be in my future. I want to be able to read challenging books and actually understand them without having to have someone explain to me what is happening in them. I want to be able to recite and understand well-known poetry the way Ms. Diana can. I remember once when I was watching a show called Criminal Minds, one of the characters was narrating the end of the episode by reciting a famous quote and stating who said it; the narrator described the quote with his own words and translated it in context to the case he was working on. One day, I wish I could quote literature that effortlessly, but it will certainly not be easy at first because I am not really good at memorizing things like names of people and dates. Sometimes the facts get mixed up in my head and I forget who said what exactly; I think that happens to most people at some point.

There is a lot that I hope will happen in my future literacy, but there is also a good chance that what I hope for does not come true. In reality, I bet that I will not read as often as I would like to think and I will probably not be able to quote famous poets in my everyday life, well at least if I don’t watch more Criminal Minds (a good reason to watch more TV right?). If I really want my future literacy to expand, I have to make time to do it—make it one of my priorities. As for the more immediate future, such as tomorrow or a few weeks from now, I do not really see my literacy going very far because I have a lot to do before senior year begins. Who knows, I might just find the perfect moment when I have nothing to do, and in that moment I will pick up a book and just read it.

Cultural Literacy

Recently for my AP United States History class, I was assigned to do a decade interview project about the 1960s. My partner and I had to come up with a list of events that occurred in this decade. There were many events with great significance, but the one event I think stands out the most, or at least was the coolest to talk about, is the Apollo 11 space mission where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin traveled and successfully landed on the moon. Neil Armstrong is known for being the first man to walk on the moon; he took the first few steps on the lunar surface and for this reason, among several other reasons, America became a world power. This mission ended the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. It also fulfilled a national goal proposed in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy in a speech announcing that America would be the first country to safely put a man on the moon. When the United States accomplished this goal and beat the Soviet Union, America was viewed as a world super power.

I think if someone is literate in the United States, he should know about this astonishing event that had everyone glued to the television. The first walk on the moon is a major part of United States history and contributes to American culture because, after this experience, American citizens began to have a lot of national pride.

Public Education

In my opinion, there are several flaws in public education. One main flaw is standardized testing: the ACTs, the SATs (sometimes SAT subject tests…not looking forward to those), and the AP exams. At New Paltz High School, it is recommended that students take an absurd amount of tests throughout their education; it’s ridiculous, and that’s not even the worst part! You are required to pay for these exams, exams that are supposed to help you get into college. The problem with standardized tests is that they are not an accurate depiction of your intelligence. I don’t think colleges should place so much emphasis on one test. I believe that these tests are based more on your ability to manage your time, to guess wisely, and even to define whether or not you are a good test taker. Personally, I find these tests difficult because it is a lot of reading comprehension, which is not really my strong suit. In addition, these tests are expensive, so people with a lot of money can pay to take the tests several times and also pay for extra tutoring and books. This leads to an unfair advantage for people with not as much money, which then becomes an equality problem—a social issue. I imagine that students who attend private schools do better on standardized tests because their families are able to afford expensive SAT prep classes.

There are some ideas that I have to improve public education, but I’m not sure that they would be any better or give a more accurate reflection of a person’s intelligence. One suggestion would be to put more emphasis on doing an interview for colleges because the admissions director would get to see your personality. However, the problem with that is people could bribe their interviewer, or get along better with him than others, or even the interviewer could be racist, which would place certain students above other applicants. Another solution could be to only look at students’ academic record. Yet, even that is not always a precise portrayal of students’ intelligence. Some classes are harder than others; some teachers instructing the class are harder than the other teachers; furthermore, some students are considered the “teacher’s pet.” In that case, the student could receive higher grades, allowing the student to be easily accepted, or at least more likely to be admitted than others. In the early 1900s, the intelligence quotient (IQ) test was designed to assess human intelligence, but this test is also not a great representation of one's educational background. 

I conclude that there are many different methods on how to evaluate students applying to colleges, but none of them seem to be flawless. If colleges took the time to look at all of the applicants’ life history, such as their family background, school records (grades and classes), awards (varsity letters and academic awards), extracurricular activities (clubs and sports), college essays, and teacher comments, maybe even some peer comments, colleges would truly get to know the students on a more personal level. Perhaps students could form some kind of portfolio of their best work throughout their high school education. For example, their best essay, best project, or best art piece could be included. There is no perfect solution, but I think colleges try their best to be fair during the application process. There are some colleges you would consider as safety schools, schools you think you could easily get accepted to because of your test scores, and then there are reach schools, the very prestigious and rigorous schools. However, you could be surprised by getting rejected from your safety schools and accepted by your reach schools. The thing is, you never really know what colleges are looking for; you might just be exactly it, so it is important that you are optimistic and open to different types of colleges, and to not let a test determine how smart you are compared to other people in the world because people can be smart in their own way.

Education Week

In fourth grade, my teacher read many books to us out loud because listening is easier than reading when you are young. She first read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo, and then The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane was my first “real” novel that was not filled with pictures. I loved the plot of this book because it was sad with a happy ending.  I asked my mom to buy me a copy of my own because I loved it so much; it is probably the only book I have ever read more than once (shocking, right?). The Invention of Hugo Cabret is another book that I really enjoyed because it consists of pretty much all black and white pictures. This book made me realize how much I liked reading graphic novels because books are easier to read with pictures that follow the story. My mom also bought me a copy of this book to re-read, but I never did; maybe I will sometime this year. After reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret, I began reading more graphic novels, such as the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

I own and read all of these books. My fourth grade teacher has had the greatest impact on my literacy because she got me to enjoy reading different types of works that I did not think I would enjoy. In addition, we had a poetry unit where I had to write my own original poem. I was not a fan of writing poetry at first because I had no clue what to write about while my friends had their creative juices flowing. After my teacher made corrections, I edited it to make my poem perfect and then I entered it in a poetry contest and my poem was chosen to be published!  I was so proud to have written a poem by myself and for it to be published in a book. Ever since this class, I have appreciated poetry, especially writing poetry. I definitely think the teacher you have affects your view on literacy and, thankfully, I have had some pretty great English teachers throughout my education.

Visual Text: "The Problem We All Live With"

I am not quite sure when I visited the Norman Rockwell Museum, but I do know that I went there for a school fieldtrip. One painting that I remember is called The Problem We All Live With. It depicts Ruby Bridges, a six-year-old African American girl, on her way to a white public school; this illustration was painted in 1964 during the process of racial desegregation. I remember viewing this painting and being appalled that someone would throw a tomato at her. I did not understand how or why people could be so cruel to an innocent girl--she isn’t harming anyone, she is just going about her own business. I was also stunned that four deputy U.S. marshals are escorting the girl to school because of the violence against her; it really made me fear that people might act harshly toward me because I am Chinese, but my dad explained to me that racism is in the past and I have nothing to worry about.

However, that is not entirely true. Sure, racism is mostly resolved in the world, but yet we still hear about discrimination in the news. I’ve been made fun of because of my race several times. I tried to ignore it and pretend like I didn’t hear the comments because it is extremely hurtful to be made fun of in general, but I think more so when people made fun of me because I am Chinese. Sometimes I would cry to my mom and ask her many questions such as why am I Chinese or why couldn’t I be white instead. In those moments, I felt so ashamed for being who I am. After sixteen years of knowledge and experience, I’ve learned not to be embarrassed, but rather proud to be different and unique because who wants to be like everyone else? My parents used to tell me that being Chinese, among other things, is what makes me so special…kind of cheesy right?

When I first saw this photo, I was filled with outrage. I just could not believe that this was how life would be for a young black child. When I was younger everything was so different compared to the past in America. I was not fully aware of segregation and discrimination. If you look closely at the background of the art piece, there are nasty, racist words. After viewing the work several times now, I realize how brave this little girl is—fearless from the world around her. The girl continues to walk forward and keep her head held high; she is so strong. As I was writing about the drawing, I noticed that all four men are stepping with their left foot forward while the girl steps with her right foot, opposite from the white men. This makes a statement about conformity and unity as the girl defies being like the white people. In addition, the girl is wearing white, which typically represents purity and innocence: white shoes, white socks, white bows, and a white dress. I think the white color is supposed to juxtapose her dark skin.

Overall, I think this Norman Rockwell painting says a lot about racism. I completely agree with the statement, “A picture is a thousand words.” There is so much that goes on in one single visual image that sometimes it is hard to grasp everything. Similar to written works, there are multiple ways of interpreting a picture because people think and view things differently. This is one of my favorite Norman Rockwell paintings and it was the first visual work that I thought to write about for this blog because it has majorly impacted me.